Governance Cluster, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK
Governance Cluster, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK.
Tob Control. 2023 Nov;32(6):729-733. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-057163. Epub 2022 Jun 2.
To evaluate the common industry claim that higher tobacco taxation leads to higher levels of smuggling, particularly in a limited state capacity setting.
This paper evaluates the effects of a tobacco tax increase in Sierra Leone on smuggling by using gap analyses. Its models are based on multiple rounds of the Demographic and Health Survey and customs data as well as newly collected data on cigarette prices.
The paper shows that despite a substantial increase in cigarette taxation, and despite the absence of other formal tobacco control policies, smuggling has not increased in Sierra Leone. Its primary model shows a decrease in cigarette smuggling by 16.74% following the tax increase, alongside a decrease in cigarette consumption more widely and an increase in tax revenue.
By presenting a low income and lower enforcement capacity case study, this paper provides novel and critical evidence to the debate on the tax-smuggling link. Furthermore, it points to new questions on how states in these contexts can limit cigarette smuggling.
评估烟草业的普遍说法，即提高烟草税会导致走私活动增加，特别是在国家能力有限的情况下。
本文利用差距分析评估了塞拉利昂提高烟草税对走私活动的影响。其模型基于多轮人口与健康调查以及海关数据，以及新收集的香烟价格数据。
本文表明，尽管香烟税大幅增加，而且没有采取其他正式的烟草控制政策，但塞拉利昂的走私活动并未增加。其主要模型显示，在增税之后，香烟走私减少了 16.74%，同时香烟消费更广泛地减少，税收收入增加。
本文通过提供一个低收入和执法能力较低的案例研究，为关于税收与走私关系的辩论提供了新颖和关键的证据。此外，它还提出了在这些情况下，国家如何能够限制香烟走私的新问题。
